Serious Crime Unit 1

Chapter 395 Bone Cave (3)
"I don't know. This is a hatchet made by a blacksmith in the last century. Nowadays, no villagers hire blacksmiths to make such knives. Today's knives are produced on factory assembly lines. The steel knives sold by vendors on the street have no personality whatsoever. , although it is very sharp, it is not easy to use because of the lack of steel, but there is no way, the blacksmith profession has long since disappeared."

"Are there many people named Lin in your village?"

"The largest surnames in our village are Xie and Lin. Villagers surnamed Lin account for a quarter, about 80 people. However, there were no middle-aged villagers missing in our village around 2006, so they should not be from our village."

"Why are you so sure?"

"Our village only has a population of 321, so the missing people cannot be hidden from anyone. Although I was working in Chongqing at the time, I had never heard of anyone missing."

"Is there an old blacksmith in the village?"

"No, if the villagers want to make iron for their household items, they hire outside blacksmiths to come to the village."

"It doesn't matter. You take us to the village to visit the older villagers. Maybe they know who this knife belongs to, or who made this hatchet, because the amount of iron used by each blacksmith will be different." Zhu Gang has been running in the countryside for many years and knows these details.

Xie Zengqiang took them to Xie Xianyou's home. His family lived next to a big jujube tree. A thin stream passed between the jujube tree and his house, and the sound of running water could be heard day and night.An ancient stone bridge crosses the creek. The bridge is covered with moss and ivy, adding a beautiful scenery to the village.

Xie Xianyou is 58 years old this year, not much older than the deceased. When he saw guests coming, he was about to boil water to make tea, but was stopped by Zhu Gang: "Uncle Lin, we just had tea at the village committee, you don't need to be busy, we want to Let me know something from you."

"Oh, fine fine."

"Do you recognize this knife?"

Lin Xianyou took the hatchet handed to him by Zhu Gang, looked at it seriously for a while and said, "I don't know this knife, but this knife should be made by Old Wu Tou. Only the knife he made can kill." Lin'zihe's '1998 Ban' is chiseled so deeply, and the blade is extremely thin, so that the knife can be sharpened without interrupting the woodcutter. I'll get two hatchets to show you."

After speaking, he walked into the storage room and took out two hatchets. The blades of the two hatchets were sharpened to a cold light and were extremely sharp. This was the sign of a hard-working farmer.

Zhu Gang took the hatchet from him and observed it, and found that they were two different hatchets. One hatchet was long and thin, and the other was long but not thin, thick and heavy, suitable for people with strong strength. The skilled blacksmith was When making a hatchet, the owner will be carefully asked about his strength and weight to make a hatchet suitable for the owner, just like a shoemaker will make shoes suitable for the owner.

The thick hatchet had the word "林" and "time" carved into it as deep as the deceased's hatchet, and its shape and weight were also very similar. An expert could tell that it was made by the same blacksmith.

"Uncle Lin, where is the blacksmith who made this hatchet from? Is he still there?"

"Oh, his name is Wang Xiangyun. He lives in Xieduan Village. He is almost 70 years old this year. He is a kind and generous man. You can go find him. Maybe he will know the owner of the hatchet."

Zhu Gang knows Xiaduan Village, which is 8 kilometers away from Beiwang Village. It used to be a poor and backward place. In order to survive, most of the commune members (before the commune was changed to a township, they were called commune members) went out to work hard, because there were iron mines in the village, and many of them Steel workers from the city came here to make steel, and the villagers learned some skills. Therefore, almost all the blacksmiths in the county came from Xieduan Village.

That was in the mid-60s. Within a few years of digging, the iron ore was exhausted, leaving behind scarred mountains and filthy river water.

When they came to Xieduan Village, there were still scrap iron and rocks left on the mountain. Although the government invested huge sums of money to restore the landscape, it still could not be restored.

Led by Qu Hong, secretary of the village party committee, they came to Wang Xiangyun's home. Wang Xiangyun lived in an old adobe house. His five sons had all built new houses, leaving only him and his wife to depend on each other.

Wang Xiangyun has white temples, a Chinese character face, dark skin, but bright eyes, and a chivalrous temperament. It can be seen that he should have been a well-known figure when he was young, because this kind of personality makes it easy to make friends.

His feet were swollen due to varicose veins, and it seemed a little difficult to walk. When he saw Zhu Gang and others coming, he quickly moved the chairs, then took out two bottles of his daughter's red wine and poured four glasses for the three of them to drink, but was Zhu Gang stopped him: "Uncle Wang, we stipulate that you are not allowed to drink during working hours. Otherwise, you will make a mistake and be laid off if your boss finds out."

"Why is it so serious? In the past, whenever distinguished guests came, I would serve them with daughter's red wine that had been buried underground for 18 years. It would be a shame if you didn't drink it." He was disappointed.

"Uncle Wang, keep this wine for now. I will drink it again when I have the opportunity." Zhu Gang felt that his temperament was similar to his own, bold and generous.Zhu Gang took out a hatchet and handed it to Wang Xiangyun: "Uncle Wang, please help us see if this hatchet was made by you?"

"It must have been me." He said with just one glance.

"Then do you remember who you were fighting for? This is very important to us, and I hope you can help us think about it."

Wang Xiangyun fell into deep thought and said while thinking: "This should have been made in the summer of 1998. That summer my apprentice and I shot at least 300 hatchets... This... I really can't remember this. There are too many owners. ." "Do you usually blacksmith in nearby villages?"

"No, I will go wherever someone invites me, but most of them are in this county. I rarely go out to other counties."

"The owner of this one is in his early 50s. Please help us think about it." Zhu Gang could only reveal some inside information to him.

"This statement still doesn't help me identify the owner of the hatchet, because I never ask the owner what year he was born, unless he is a very close friend. However, you can go to Lin Daxi's house in Shangduan Village and ask them. I have two sons in their 50s, and I helped them beat two hatchets that year," Wang Xiangyun said regretfully.

"Okay, let's go find him now. Is Lin Daxi at home?"

"At home, he is lame and cannot travel far."

"Thank you, Uncle Wang, let's go." Zhu Gang shook hands with him and said goodbye.

Shangduan Village and Lower Duan Village are 12 kilometers apart. Zhu Gang had never been to Shangduan Village and did not know anyone there, so he had to call Lin Huan, the director of the township police station, and asked him to lead the way. Lin Huan promised to arrive immediately, although the director and the criminal police The captains are of the same rank, but because the criminal police and the civilian police are responsible for different matters, the director will generally obey the criminal police captain.

A quarter of an hour later, Lin Huan came to meet them at the entrance of Shangduan Village. Zhu Gang asked: "Director Lin, do you know if any villagers in Shangduan Village disappeared ten years ago?"

"You have to ask Lao Huang. I have been the director for less than three years. It is impossible for me to know what happened ten years ago. How about I call Lao Huang and ask him?" Lin Huan said awkwardly.

"No, let's go find Lin Daxi first and wait until we see him."

Because the village party secretary and village director of Shangduan Village were having a meeting in the county seat, Lin Huan didn't know where Lin Daxi's family lived. He called the village security director and asked him to lead the way. Shangduan Village has a population of nearly 4000, with crisscrossed alleys and messy houses. It's hard to find someone if you're familiar with them.

Lin Daxi lived in the center of Shangduan Village. It was still an adobe house. Although the house was dilapidated, it was very clean. When they came in, Lin Daxi's wife was cleaning the house. When she saw a guest coming, she immediately shouted into the house: "Old man, we have a guest." La--"

In an instant, an old man walked out of the room. He was limping and taking difficult steps with bumps. When he saw them, he smiled and asked them to sit on the wooden sofa. He took out cigarettes and handed them to them to smoke. He said apologetically: "Cigarettes." No, just make do with it."

"How dare you say that...Uncle Lin, do you think this is your hatchet?" Zhu Gang took out the hatchet again and handed it to Lin Daxi to see.Lin Daxi is 73 years old. Because he is disabled, he enjoys special national pension policies.

"I'm not sure about this. Our village's surname is Lin. This hatchet is very rusty and hasn't been sharpened for many years. Even if it belongs to my family, I don't recognize it." After he said that, he took out two from his pocket. coins, reaching to the chin to pick up the beard.

"I heard that you have two sons. Where are they?"

"My younger son is working in Guangzhou, and I haven't seen my eldest son for ten years." When he said this, he became sad.

"Didn't meet? Did he disappear?"

"Absolutely." He didn't seem to want to mention it.

"Can you please tell me the circumstances of his disappearance?"

"Well, it's sad to talk about the past. My eldest son's name is Lin Xiaolu. He married a daughter-in-law and gave birth to a daughter. However, his daughter-in-law was restless and had an affair with someone else. The eldest son was an honest man and advised his daughter-in-law to leave. She did that, but she didn't listen and went her own way, which eventually led to divorce.

“In the end, when they went to court, the shitty judge actually ordered them to divorce and gave their daughter to her daughter-in-law. The daughter-in-law took her daughter to work in Xiamen and never came back.

"My eldest son thought about my daughter all day long. Day after day, he slowly became dementia and couldn't work. He kept walking up and down the street all day, or stood at the intersection for a whole day, sometimes for the whole day. Ye Du stood at the intersection and looked towards the south. He was looking forward to his daughter coming home. Alas..." Lin Daxi choked up.

After a long silence, Lin Daxi calmed down and continued: "My eldest son may have been looking forward to it for too long. When he didn't see his daughter come home, he wanted to find her. But one day, he took dry food and walked towards the county seat because he had something on his body. Since he had no money, the shuttle bus owner wouldn't let him get on the bus, so he had to walk.

(End of this chapter)